Community Service
by carcassi
Summary: Teenage!Lex meets kid!Clark on one unforgettable night in a museum. Add Kryptonite, and stir very, very gently. CONCLUSION now up!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _Even as youngsters, Lex and Clark were destined to be together. This is how I imagined their real first meeting._

**Community Service**

**Part One**

The Juvenile Court judge stared stonily at the slim teenager with the baby face, bald head, and laser-sharp blue eyes. "I find you guilty of illegal possession of a controlled substance, Mr. Luthor. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

_Only that I'm astounded to meet both an assistant DA **and** a judge that Dad hasn't been able to buy off_, Lex thought resentfully. "No, sir," he replied smoothly, standing perfectly still in his blue Excelsior Prep blazer. Next to him, the expensive lawyer in gray Armani pin stripes cleared his throat. Quickly Lex continued, "Except that I've learned my lesson, and I'm sorry."

The judge's dour expression didn't change. "Hmm. I'm glad to hear that. Given the fact that this is your first conviction, I'm inclined to be lenient……"

Lex's mouth slowly curled upward into a satisfied smile.

"….but I can't ignore the fact that you're almost seventeen. I expect better things from a boy of your age and obvious intelligence."

Lex's smile froze in place.

"Also, I'm compelled to take into consideration the evidence of Ms. Hardwick, who testified that she stopped you from driving while under the influence."

Dear, innocent Victoria. She'd been perfectly happy to let him race her father's Ferrari, stoned as he was, until she was in the mood to play. When she unbuttoned her shirt and suggested a pleasant—but not particularly novel—activity, he remembered muttering that the car was more responsive than she was.

The next thing he knew, the cops were booking him.

"In my opinion, she saved you from yourself, young man. She showed an admirable sense of responsibility. You owe her your thanks. You could profit by learning a little responsibility yourself….."

Lex ground his teeth, and made a mental note to thank Victoria properly at the first opportunity. Right after he found a way to silence his father's mocking laughter, which had echoed endlessly in his head ever since Lionel had first heard of his son's arrest.

"…..so I'm sentencing you to community service."

His face carefully blank, Lex listened in horror to the rest of the judge's sentence.

_"Cub Scouts?"_

The assistant curator of the Metropolis Museum of Natural History beamed at Lex from across her desk with matronly affection, but she could hardly have shocked him more if she'd been speaking Urdu (a language that he was in the process of mastering). He repeated the question, confident that he must have misheard her. "CUB Scouts?"

Apparently unfazed by Lex's obvious lack of enthusiasm, the curator nodded and her smile broadened. "Yes, two troops of fourth-graders from out of town"—she consulted an appointment book on her desk—"from Grandville and, and, oh yes, Smallville. They're coming tonight for a sleepover. Since you've graciously volunteered to be a museum guide as part of your community service, I'd like you to be their docent—and an overnight chaperone too, of course."

The mention of Smallville made Lex wince inwardly. Up until two minutes ago, he'd been congratulating himself on finding an easy way to serve out his sentence. In fact, he'd even been looking forward to discussing various interesting topics relating to anthropology, geology and astronomy with the tourists who came from all over the world to view the museum's famous exhibits.

As if by magic, this harmless-looking woman had transformed his clever plan into a nightmare. How had she done it? The prospect of spending an entire night babysitting a bunch of noisy brats with runny noses and whiny voices—and from _Smallville_, of all places—filled him with almost as much horror as spending an entire day with his father. He hated kids. Even when he'd been a kid, he'd hated kids; he remembered the schoolyard taunts, the curious stares, the feeling that he was a freak in a circus show. Obviously, it had been too much to hope that those days were behind him now.

It sounded remarkably close to the kind of humiliating idea that Lionel would come up with. No, he thought darkly, scratch that. It sounded _exactly_ like something Lionel would come up with.

The curator's next words confirmed his thoughts. "Your father assured me he thought this experience would be very beneficial for you." As if to close the subject, she folded her hands on her desk. "I'll look forward to seeing you at six o'clock," she said briskly. "In the Main Hall."

Lex nodded, only half-hearing her. He was too busy listening to Lionel's satisfied chuckle, which rang out in his mind as clearly as if dear old Dad had been in the office with him. He left the museum, mentally cursing his father, Victoria, the judge, and the curator in seven languages, including two that hadn't been in general use since the fall of Rome.

**TBC…..**


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

At six o'clock precisely, Lex entered the museum's main rotunda, fully armed for a siege.

He'd dressed down for the ordeal, in a mauve Lauren cashmere pullover and dark denim. Slung over one shoulder was his sleeping bag; over the other, his bookbag, packed with items intended to help him survive the night: Sun Tzu's _The Art of War_, a dog-eared copy of _I, Claudius_, his PDA, and a few favorite issues from his _Warrior Angel_ comics collection (the "everyday" issues, not the collectibles, of course). He'd considered slipping in a joint or two, until he remembered that was what had gotten him into trouble in the first place.

He planned on having plenty of time to amuse himself after he treated these brats to the most whirlwind, cursory tour he could devise. After all, he recalled with grim amusement, hadn't his father always urged him to make the best of a bad situation?

The assistant curator wore a smile that was, if possible, even more obnoxiously bright than before as she stood under the rotunda's impressive dome, ready to greet him as he crossed the marble threshold. Lex forced his tightly-pressed lips upward in a coldly polite response, idly pondering how much Lionel was paying her for this humiliation.

"Right on time," she said approvingly. "The scouts and their chaperones will be arriving in a few minutes, but I wanted some time alone with you first to go over a few details."

She handed him an itinerary, and Lex scanned it with a rapidly sinking heart. "Your first hour with the boys will be in the Earth and Space wing; also, I'd like you to give them a little tour of the planetarium before the star show. After a quick snack, they'll get a chance to explore the interactive exhibits—I'm sure they'll have plenty of questions for you to answer—and finally, you'll move on to tell them a little bit about gems and fossils, ending in the Hall of Dinosaurs. That's where all of you will be spending the night. Oh, and the den mothers thought you might enjoy joining in the boys' special Story Time before bed. It ought to be fun."

_Only if purgatory is supposed to be fun_, Lex thought, morosely dropping his sleeping bag and bookbag on a cart that would hold them until lights-out. He thought wistfully of his books and comics, so near and yet so far.

An entire night completely ruined, and no way out: Lionel was nothing if not thorough.

The curator continued to rattle on about the schedule, cheerfully suggesting points of interest to show the Scouts, but Lex barely heard her. His gaze wandered to the mineral and fossil exhibits mounted around the hall's perimeter, stopping abruptly on one that had a too-familiar look.

"What's a meteorite from Smallville doing here in the Main Hall?" Lex raised a curious eyebrow, smoothly sliding his question into one of the curator's rare pauses for breath. Mostly to change the subject, he walked over to examine an enormous greenish boulder, which was unprotected by any glass. "Granted, it's big, but isn't a common rock like that a little below your standards?" As he reached out a hand to touch it, he was surprised at the chill that ran down his spine, and quickly withdrew his arm. _So much for seven years of therapy_, he reflected wryly

The curator followed him over and patted the huge rock lovingly. "This is by far the largest specimen found so far," she boasted. "And it's part of our local history, as you know."

"Yes, I do. I know all about the meteor shower," he replied softly, leveling a long, unblinking stare at the curator. "It nearly killed me."

Lex watched with satisfaction as her face paled under his steady gaze. His stare often had that effect on people. It was a weapon he'd used to his advantage many times with his teachers at Excelsior.

Clearing her throat nervously, she lowered her eyes. "Of course. I'm sorry." Lex barely managed to keep his lips from curling into a cynical smile.

A babble of excited, high-pitched voices rose from the direction of the museum's main entrance, and the annoying woman jerked her head up with obvious relief. "They're here. I'll just have a word with the troop leaders, and then I'm off." She patted his arm. "I know you'll have a wonderful time."

With barely bottled resentment, he watched her exit the hall as a stream of boys in a mixture of navy blue and tan uniforms burst into the rotunda, their sneakers squeaking on the gleaming marble tiles. Loud whispers, exclamations, and the sound of running feet echoed in the hall as their den mothers tried to corral them into a group. Lex closed his eyes and sighed.

A tugging on his elbow jolted him back to life. A skinny, tow-headed kid squinted up at him curiously from about waist-level. "You're bald," the kid announced, without preamble.

Lex glared downwards. "And you're short. For the record, that's worse."

A harried-looking den mother dragged the kid away apologetically. Around him, mass confusion continued to reign in the hall while he looked on, wishing he were almost anywhere else. From somewhere close behind him came the sounds of a minor scuffle.

"No shoving, jerk! You hurt my buddy!"

It sounded as if a fight was breaking out close behind him, near the meteorite exhibit. Mildly curious, he turned to face the exhibit—and what he saw made him catch his breath. The formerly dull, unremarkable rock now sparkled with a soft emerald glow.

Odd, he mused, narrowing his eyes. Over the years, he'd done plenty of research into the meteor shower, but he couldn't recall reading about this particular phenomenon. He extended a cautious hand, but before he could touch the rock's surface, his elbow was jostled by the two scuffling Scouts. The smaller one, a pudgy, dark-skinned boy with fierce black eyes, was angrily pushing a kid who was at least a head taller, and probably much older.

Lex was about to snap at both of them to cut it out, when he noticed a third boy slumped, motionless, at the foot of the exhibit's pedestal. Alarmed, he swept the rotunda for any sign of an adult, but the overwhelmed den mothers and troop leaders were far too busy to notice his frantic wave.

The taller kid pushed back against the younger boy, causing the smaller Scout to stumble and trip over his friend's inert body, while the older boy jeered at him. "You're an even bigger wuss than your buddy, Ross! And _he's_ not even a Scout!"

The schoolboy jeering brought back memories that Lex would much rather have left undisturbed. Flushed with anger, he grabbed the taller kid by the arm and yanked him closer, ignoring the boy's howl of protest, and bent to whisper in the kid's ear, as softly as possible: "If you want to live long enough to earn your next Merit Badge, you'll back off."

While the bully retreated with a strangled snarl, Lex turned his attention to the boy sprawled underneath the meteorite display. He still hadn't moved, and Lex couldn't see his face, which was hidden by a mass of tousled, dark curls. He knelt in concern to examine the youth, and was relieved to discover that nothing was broken, and there was no sign of bruises or trauma.

He was at a loss to explain why such an otherwise-healthy-looking kid had passed out. There was nothing obvious to account for it. In fact, if he hadn't been lying unconscious on the floor, Lex would have called him a perfect physical specimen. It was puzzling.

The bully had been right about one thing: The kid wasn't wearing a Scout uniform. His bright red-and-blue plaid shirt marked him as an outsider in this group, and probably explained why he'd been targeted by the small-minded loudmouth.

Lex knew all about being an outsider. With a sudden rush of sympathy, he reached out, gently brushing the curls away from the boy's pallid face. At his soft touch, the youngster groaned and turned to look up at Lex.

The most startling pair of green eyes that he'd ever seen regarded him gravely. Amazingly, in spite of his obvious pain, the boy's lips tugged upwards, smiling at him as if in recognition.

Lex stared back, spellbound—and, at the same time, mystified at the unexpected effect this boy had on him. True, he wasn't used to getting smiles from children. Whether it was because of his appearance, or his personality, or both, most of them had a knack for making him feel as if he were a creature who'd just crawled from the slimy depths of the ocean.

But there was something more. He tried to remember the last time anyone had looked at him with as much innocent warmth as this pale, beautiful boy. From somewhere in the depths of his mind, he recalled the tingling sensation of small fingers softly brushing across his bare scalp, in a gesture that was somehow comforting beyond words. Lex shivered at the memory, and wondered where it had come from.

He looked again at the boy, whose eyes had shut, and his forehead furrowed in concern as he watched a sickly greenish tinge spread over the child's face.

"Come on," Lex whispered, encouragingly. "We'll get you to a doctor."

The boy shook his head weakly at the mention of a doctor, but he obediently laced an arm around Lex's neck and allowed the teenager to lift him to his feet. He felt unusually warm as he leaned against Lex, who considered, worriedly, whether the boy could be running a fever. When the child's color seemed to improve after taking just a few steps away from the exhibit, he felt a surprising sense of relief.

He surrendered his charge to a troop leader with a strange reluctance. Before the kid slipped out of Lex's grasp, he looked up shyly, and broke into another angelic smile. "Thanks."

Lex stared after the retreating pair until they disappeared into an adjoining office. Trailing in the pair's wake was the short, pudgy kid, who fluttered around his buddy with wide, concerned eyes. "You're welcome," Lex whispered, and wondered why he felt as if he'd just made a new friend.

Glancing toward the meteorite display, Lex noticed that the rock's unusual radiance was beginning to fade. The phenomenon, whatever it was, had evidently done some electrical damage to the small track lights that surrounded the exhibit; they were sputtering and giving off an unmistakeable whiff of ozone. He watched in fascination as emerald sparks traveled down the base of the lights like green lightning, running along the cords and disappearing into the pedestal.

A swift, surreptitious glance around the hall told him that the strange electrical effect had gone unnoticed by everyone except a few of the Scouts, and the injured boy, who had just re-emerged from the office with the troop leader, apple-cheeked and healthy. Mysteriously, he seemed to have made a remarkably complete recovery.

Lex added the observation to his mental tally of odd events. It was growing longer by the minute. This evening might prove to be more interesting than he'd thought.

One of the den mothers came up to him, interrupting his thoughts with a smile. "We're ready, I think. Where do we start the tour?"

Lex drew a deep breath. "The Earth and Space wing. Do your kids know much about galaxies and the universe?"

"Well," she giggled, "they've all seen _Star Wars_."

"Great." Lex sighed and advanced to the head of the group. Interesting or not, it was going to be a long night.

**TBC…..**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**_ Thanks for the wonderful feedback and encouragement, **P.K.-91, rh-fntc, sayrae3times, and Princess-Aiel**!! I wasn't sure how many people would be interested in a Clex friendship fic, so it's great to hear that you're enjoying this!!_

_And the museum tour begins..._

**Part Three**

"Welcome to the Metropolis Museum of Natural History." Lex's voice echoed in the marble corridor as he addressed the sea of navy blue and tan-clad children massed in front of him. "My name is Lex, and I'll be your guide."

He felt like the head waiter at The Spaghetti Factory.

In spite of the first-name-only introduction, he could tell that the Luthor connection hadn't been lost on many of the group. His looks were hard to miss, after all. In particular, the scowl of the green-eyed boy's friend, the one who'd fought the bully, told Lex that at least one family in this group had had the pleasure of dealing with Lionel's less-than-beloved company.

Lex had spotted his new young friend at the back of the crowd almost immediately, which wasn't surprising; the kid towered over most of the others, and his bright plaid shirt clashed with the sea of Scout uniforms. For some reason, it made Lex happy that the kid hadn't reacted at all to the unspoken Luthor name.

He forged ahead with the tour. "I'd like to find out how many of you Cub Scouts….."

One of the troop leaders raised his hand, giving Lex the uncomfortable feeling of being in a fourth-grade classroom. "Actually, we're _Webelos_," the leader corrected. For no apparent reason whatsoever, den mothers and Scouts alike cheered at that, as the leader broke into a grin.

Lex raised his eyebrows. Great. Webelos. Whatever.

Lex was counting on his ability to fake a smile for hours, if necessary. It had really come in handy last spring at the LuthorCorp annual meeting.

"Congratulations! So, how many of you….Webelos…..have visited the Museum before?"

The hand of almost every boy flew up. Lex noticed that his young friend was one of the few who didn't respond.

"And, for those of you who've been here before….keep your hand up if you remember seeing anything besides the dinosaurs."

Every hand went down.

Lex's smile grew tight, but it remained in place. "Then this will be something really new, won't it? Follow me, please."

He turned, beckoning them forward with a wave of his hand, and listened to the varied rhythm of dozens of pairs of footsteps shuffling, striding, and stomping as they trailed behind him along the wide corridor, past artists' renderings of galaxies and supernovae, until they reached an archway outlined in twinkling, star-shaped white lights.

Was it only his imagination, or did he detect a few stray emerald-toned glints in those lights? He paused to peer at the lights more closely, but the glints, if they existed at all, had vanished as suddenly as they'd appeared.

The restless shuffling of small feet behind him brought his attention back to his duties as tour guide. Shrugging away his misgivings, he turned to wave the group into the exhibition hall with an easy grin. "Welcome to the Hall of the Universe."

Beyond the archway, rows of sleek, high-tech displays lined the walls, awash in blinking lights, videos of galaxies cartwheeling through space, and enough levers and buttons to tempt an entire battalion of Scouts. To Lex, though, they were nothing more than boring distractions; he bypassed them all.

Instead, he led the Scouts to a large glass globe, which encased a curiously-shaped steel framework. Dozens of white crystals studded the framework, glittering with refracted light.

He rested a hand on the glass and nodded at the steel shape inside the globe. "It's pretty, isn't it? It's called a Hoberman Sphere, and in this case, it represents the universe. Which is made up of galaxies, like our Milky Way. So let me ask you," he continued, his voice taking on authority as he warmed to his subject, "if this metal shape is the universe, what are the crystals on the metal shape?"

A sea of blank stares met his raised eyebrows. Lex sighed softly. "No NASA hopefuls here, I see," he muttered under his breath.

A hand inched up at the back of the group, belonging to the green-eyed boy's buddy. "Ummmm, galaxies?"

"Well done," Lex congratulated, relieved to find at least one Scout who was listening with even half an ear. "Can you tell me what the Hoberman Sphere does?"

Instead of answering, the kid immediately pointed to his pal, ignoring the warning scowl his pal shot back. "I dunno. You better ask him, he told me what to say."

Lex saw, with considerable amusement, that the blush on the taller boy's cheeks quickly deepened from pink to full-fledged crimson. He even tried to hunch his plaid-covered shoulders in an effort to make himself inconspicuous, which made Lex choke back a burst of laughter. It was like watching a young pin oak try to hide in a forest of saplings.

"Ah. Well, then, I'd better ask _you_. What does it do?"

The boy's green eyes lifted hesitantly to meet his. "It, um, shows how the galaxies move?"

Lex's eyebrows shot up. Not bad, not bad at all. "You must be interested in astronomy."

The kid's blush spread to the tips of his ears. "I like stuff about space," he murmured in an embarrassed whisper.

Clearly, the boy was far too modest. He'd have to do something about that.

Grinning encouragingly, he gestured in the kid's direction. "Come on up here, and I'll let you start the show."

The boy crept forward.

"What's your name?" Lex asked, genuinely curious.

His reluctant assistant investigated the tip of his shoe, then darted an apprehensive glance around the semicircle of uniformed Scouts. Lex realized, with a twinge of guilt, that he had only succeeded in singling the boy out further. It was clear that his differences went far beyond the plaid shirt, and, unlike Lex, he didn't enjoy flaunting them in front of the less enlightened masses.

"It's OK," Lex said quickly, hiding his disappointment under a reassuring smile. He pointed to a button at the base of the globe. "Just push this, and see what happens."

Eyes brightening in relief, the boy happily followed Lex's instructions. The framework's arms unfolded, moving outward and pushing the crystals away from each other as if they were on the surface of an inflating balloon.

"As you can see," Lex lectured, "the universe is constantly expanding..."

A shower of green sparks burst out inside the glass sphere. His young assistant gasped and jumped back a step, so quickly that his shape seemed to blur for a second.

Shattered crystals tinkled against the glass as the mechanism came to a screeching halt.

"….or, in this case, exploding," Lex finished evenly, eyes narrowing curiously at the charred mechanical ruin inside the globe. He noticed the few remaining stray green sparks, thought of the meteorite's strange green glow, and considered the tantalizing possibilities.

As the embers faded, the Scouts and his tour fled from Lex's mind. The Smallville rocks obviously were sources of hitherto unsuspected power, apparently electrical in nature. It would be intriguing to discover what might happen if he replicated these effects elsewhere.

Of course, there were risks involved with that, and with staying in this museum at all, given the danger. But he was confident he could control them, given the right circumstances.

"Is it supposed to be doing that?" a den mother said, eyeing the globe doubtfully.

Lex turned away from the smoky glass. "Just a minor electrical problem," he replied blandly, and quickly shepherded the cluster of chattering, excited Scouts to a safely static display on stars at the far end of the hall. It would give him time to think.

**TBC….**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**_ Thank you, **rh-fntc** and **sayrae3times**, for the kind words! I hope you enjoy the next chapter:)_

_An old friend makes a brief cameo appearance in this part. Can you spot him?_

**Part Four**

By the time the Scouts filed into Hall of the Planets, after an uneventful hour or so, Lex's plan was fully formed.

As a child, he'd spent a large part of his free time in museums like this, soaking up knowledge and avoiding his classmates. By now, he was as familiar with the exhibits in this building as he was with the inside of his quantum mechanics textbook. The one he'd selected to conduct his impromptu experiment was the crowning glory of the museum, and it was located in the hall they were entering now.

It loomed in front of the group, dominating even this enormous space: A spectacular scale model of the solar system, suspended from the ceiling in a series of concentric, elliptically-shaped wire hoops. The wires were attached to a central motor mounted on a metal rod. Underneath the display, inlaid in brass on the marble floor, was a brilliant golden starburst pattern representing the sun.

A huge, motorized exhibit, surrounded by plenty of metal. It was, he thought, particularly well-suited to his purposes; if anything could coax out the green lightning he'd seen at work earlier, it would be this. At least, he hoped so; he'd been somewhat disappointed that none of the many interactive displays and videos the Scouts had played with in the past hour had produced so much as an unexplained crackle.

Most importantly, he knew that the display's power switch was located several yards away from the exhibit, on a wall near a main exit. After a brief lecture, he could lead the Scouts in that direction, flip the switch, and observe any strange phenomena from a safe distance.

He was looking forward to that moment, but since this was also one of his favorite exhibits, he had no intention of skipping a chance to discuss it, even with a bunch of scientifically-challenged schoolkids. He advanced to the center of the star almost eagerly. "You all know what _this_ is, don't you?" he began, gesturing upward.

Every head bobbed in unison, and Lex smiled. Good, he could skip the basics. Not that topics like Jupiter's red spot, Saturn's rings, and Copernican theory weren't fascinating. But they weren't the reason he'd been attracted to this exhibit, and this was his tour.

His eyes swept over the majestic, stationary panorama overhead. "It's overwhelming, isn't it? Nine different worlds….well, eight, now….and our own home is one of the smallest. It looks tiny compared to giants like Saturn and Jupiter, doesn't it? When I was your age, I used to imagine what life on some of these planets might be like." He pointed to the reddish orb attached to the wire ellipse nearest to Earth. "Did you know that Mars had ice caps, and even breathable atmosphere, once upon a time? It made me wonder how many planets, in or out of our solar system, might have intelligent life."

He turned back to face his young audience and noted, with unexpected pleasure, that his friend in plaid had, for once, moved to the forefront of the group. Ever since the earlier incident, he'd kept well away from any of the displays, but now his bright eyes fixed on the model with rapt attention.

"So what do _you_ think?" he asked the boy. "Do you believe that there's life on other planets?"

Before the boy could answer, a hand shot up so close to Lex that it nearly struck his chin. Lex dodged quickly and watched two metallic action figures slip from the hand's grasp, clattering to the floor and rolling to a stop near the tip of a sneaker belonging to his young friend.

"Sorry," a small, pale kid mumbled, as Lex directed a glare downward.

"Were you trying to make a point, or were you just attacking me?"

The kid shrugged apologetically and hung his head. "Just wanted to say that I believe in aliens."

Lex eyed the two metal figurines with a mixture of amusement and mild annoyance. "Actually, I don't think Buzz Lightyear and his little green friend qualify as extraterrestrial life forms," he remarked dryly.

"Cyrus!" A nearby den mother shook a reproving finger at the boy. "Pick up your toys."

Pouting, the youngster bent to comply, but the boy in plaid had beaten him to it. Grinning brightly, he reached out to hand the toys back to the pale kid.

A bolt of emerald-colored lightning struck the figures, singing the hand of his friend, who screamed in agony. Lex started forward in alarm, but discovered that the boy had already disappeared. He blinked, wondering if the lightning had affected his eyesight.

A high-pitched buzzing overhead forced his gaze upwards. What he saw convinced him that something was, indeed, very wrong with his vision.

Impossibly, the planets had begun to spin, their slow, graceful orbits gradually gaining speed as the buzzing increased to ear-splitting intensity. A series of crackles followed, and then the sickening smell of burning wire.

Lex's mouth fell open, but for once he was at a loss for words.

The planetary model was now spinning fast enough to rival Victoria's father's Ferrari (at least, as driven by Lex). Its motor was rapidly overheating, and sparks pinwheeled out from it in green streamers.

All without electric current. Lex's eyes darted to the switch, far away by the door, and verified that it was still off.

"_Thiscan'tbehappening_." The sentence spilled out of him in one long, ragged breath, which was all he could spare at the moment. Meanwhile, Scouts and adults alike lifted gaping mouths to the ceiling, as motionless as if they'd been chiseled in granite.

A stray spark hit one of the figurines lying near his feet, and a bemused Lex watched Buzz Lightyear fly over the head of its open-mouthed owner. This power had to have been triggered by something –but what? Obviously, he'd made a serious miscalculation.

Then he remembered that he, and the children, were standing on a floor that was inlaid with metal.

Heart pounding, he grabbed the arm of a nearby troop leader, and pushed him toward the nearest exit. ""Get the kids out of here, now! RUN!"

Instantly chaos broke out as, shocked into motion, panicked children stampeded past him. Lex urged the last straggler forward, heard a deafening shriek, glanced overhead, and froze.

The sparks had burned through the wires holding the model planets in place. Rooted in horror to his position in the center of the star, Lex watched the scale model of Jupiter, trailing pieces of electrified wire, hurtle directly toward him.

Time seemed to slow down, then disintegrate entirely, and Lex was suddenly nine years old again, trapped in a field, chased by a horror he couldn't escape.

There was no way out. Green fire singed his skin. He heard the sound of someone screaming, and realized, dimly, that it was himself.

A sudden, powerful shove sent him stumbling out of the star's perimeter. He tripped, hurtling forward; the last thing he saw before losing consciousness was the gleaming marble floor rushing up to meet him.

**TBC….**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **_Thanks very much, **FiveForFighting09, sayrae3times, Miss Kryptonite, cHoCoLaTe-cHiHuAhUa,** and **Lady Kal-El Lover** for the encouraging feedback! **Sayrae3times, **I hope I updated in time for you to see this._

_And now, the conclusion:_

**Part Five**

Something hard and cold pressed against his cheek. Lex groaned, eyes firmly shut, and extended an arm, struggling to rise onto an elbow. The pain shooting through his shoulder sent him back to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Are you OK?"

There was something deliciously familiar about that voice. Lex would have it in a second. Memories of comfort, of smiles, and of gentle fingers caressing his scalp, mixed incongruously with nightmares of green hellfire, but the nightmares melted away as a warm palm touched his forehead.

His eyelids fluttered open and saw only blackness.

He tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry. "I can't see."

"It's dark. Don't worry—all the lights went out."

A few desperate blinks later, Lex could barely make out a child's body bending over him, its eyes glimmering faintly green in the gloom.

He caught his breath. His plaid-wearing friend had stayed, in spite of the danger. Apparently, self-preservation was not one of his talents. "Get out of here!" Lex ordered, struggling to sit up in spite of the searing pain in his arm and the pounding in his head. "You could be killed!"

"S'Okay. The green stuff's gone."

"Huh." Lex drew a shaky breath, rubbed his forehead to ease the throbbing, and tried to think clearly. That last surge of unexplained power, whatever it was, must have overloaded the museum's electrical system.

His friend's shadowy face bent closer. "How do you feel?"

A hoarse chuckle escaped from Lex's lips. "Like I've just taken one too many trips on _Mr. Toad's Wild Ride_. Otherwise, fine."

Lex felt, rather than saw, the child's smile. "You were really brave."

The note of admiration in the boy's voice cut through Lex like a knife. That simple praise, from a boy he barely knew, for some reason shamed him more than his own father's open contempt. "I nearly got us all killed," he snapped. "The last thing I am is a hero."

"Sure you are." Lex cringed at the cheerful reply. "You saved everybody. They were pretty scared; I guess they forgot about you," the boy added.

"But you didn't." Lex blinked a few times in a vain attempt to get a clearer view of the small face hovering over him. It wasn't only because of the gloom; his vision was getting blurry. It was, as Lex was all too aware, a telltale sign of a concussion.

"Were you the one who pushed me, just now?"

Lex thought he saw the boy's shoulders droop slightly. When at last an answer came, it was in an embarrassed whisper. "Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Sorry you saved my life? As understandable as that might be," Lex replied mildly, "I'm still grateful."

He rested his throbbing head on the cold floor tiles with a sigh. "Go find the others," he said, closing his eyes to stop the darkness from swimming around him. "And….thank you."

But the boy stubbornly showed no sign of leaving. "Can you get up? I can help, if you want."

"You don' understan'," Lex stumbled over the words, noting the slurring in his voice and adding it to the list of Very Bad Symptoms. "S'all…it's all….my fault…what happened tonight. All of it."

Great. His head was pounding, his vision was iffy, and now he was babbling confessions to a ten-year-old. Obviously, his fall had shaken his brains more severely than he'd thought.

He couldn't stand to pretend to be a hero to a farm boy. A trusting, warm, courageous, bright, beautiful, and annoyingly obstinate, farm boy.

Lionel would laugh his head off. But right now, Lex didn't care.

"Get out," he muttered, as forcefully as he could. "Please." He paused, expecting to hear the squeak of sneakers walking away on the smooth tiles.

A hand slipped under his arm. "C'mon. It'll be OK."

Too surprised and weary to protest, Lex nodded, and his friend helped him to his feet with surprising ease. Farm living, he reflected, had a lot to recommend it.

Testing his unsteady feet, Lex was forced to lean hard on his young friend's shoulder, and found an unexpected support. He took one or two cautious steps in the direction that seemed most promising, only to be halted by a gentle tugging on his elbow.

"This way," the child corrected. Lex tried to ignore the way his head swam as he abruptly changed directions.

"You can't possibly see your way. It's pitch black."

"Yes, I can. Dad says I've got the best eyesight in Lowell County."

Lex attempted a skeptical snort, but managed only a weakly exhaled breath as he propped himself up again with the boy's supporting shoulder. "Fine. The less-blind leading the dying." He closed his eyes to lessen the dizziness, fighting to stay conscious.

"I'm not blind, and you're not dying," the child assured him, his warm fingers closing over Lex's hand. "Hold tight, and think positive."

Lex really did snort at that, and at the absurd way that cheery voice raised his hopes. "S' tell me," he asked, in an effort to stay lucid, "Why isn't a boy like you a Scout?"

The gentle guidance didn't falter. "They camp out a lot around Smallville. I have, um, allergies."

"Oh." He allowed himself to be pulled forward, trusting without question. It was a unique experience. "Y'know, y'would've made a great Scout."

"Webelo."

"Whatever."

Lex's voice trailed off weakly, and they walked a minute or two longer in companionable silence. Gradually the sounds of footsteps and soft chatter grew louder, prompting him to risk cracking his eyelids open for a quick glance ahead. At the end of a corridor he could make out a faint light. "The Main Hall," he murmured. "We made it."

Illuminated by the soft glow of flashlights, Lex glimpsed Scouts, chaperones, and museum security swarming around as a couple of Metropolis P.D.'s finest took notes. One of them spotted Lex and came running, shouting something to another officer across the hall.

With a heavy sigh of relief, Lex released the boy's shoulder and sank to the floor gratefully. He felt his eyelids drifting down again.

The sunny young voice was triumphant. "Told you I knew the way."

Lex fell into a soft darkness with those words echoing in his head.

**Epilogue**

Lex became dimly aware that something was beeping close to his ear, a rapid, regular pattern that Lex thought he recognized. Further away, he heard the faint sounds of an intercom.

He took a deep breath, and was shocked into full consciousness by the sharp smell of antiseptic. Even before he opened his eyes, he realized where he must be.

A nurse in hospital whites was bending over his bed. "He's coming to, Mr. Luthor."

Wires leading to a cluster of noisy monitors jiggled as he moved. Another figure joined the nurse by his bedside: His father, dapper as always in a designer suit, his trademark mane of carefully-styled hair glistening even in the dim light.

It was, unfortunately, too late to fake a relapse, Lex thought regretfully. 'Hi, Dad."

"Welcome back," Lionel said wryly, dismissing the nurse with a curt nod.

After the door closed behind her, Lex frowned up at his father. He had the uncomfortable feeling that he'd forgotten something important. An odd mix of images drifted at the edge of his mind, just out of his reach. "What happened?"

Lionel cocked his head to one side and his eyes crinkled, gleaming with a cynical amusement that Lex knew all too well. "Let's not pretend, shall we?" he scoffed. "Your version of community service was…..stunningly original, to say the least. I'm glad to see that you survived the experience intact."

Pushing down the safety railing, Lionel seated himself on the edge of the bed. Lex inched as far away as possible.

"Seriously, I'm rather impressed. Not only did you manage to avoid serving your sentence, but you're being hailed as a hero." His father leaned closer and lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper. "Just between the two of us, how ever did you manage to pull it off?"

"The community service. The museum," Lex murmured, desperately trying to order the chaotic jumble of elusive memories. He remembered standing in the Main Hall, talking to the curator. He remembered the Scouts, wearing blue and tan, except for one boy who wore plaid. And there was a blinding burst of green sparks.

Or wait, no—they were eyes. A pair of brilliant, emerald eyes.

"How long have I been here?" he asked.

"Almost a full week." His father studied him closely, his expression changing. A note of something that might have been concern entered his voice. "Son, aren't you getting a little too old for these reckless games? I had hoped that a dose of juvenile justice might help you settle down."

Lex's answering smile was carefully neutral. "Still trying to mold me in your image, Dad? Isn't it a little late for that?"

Lionel chuckled indulgently. "I don't need to 'mold' you, son, trust me. You and I are far too much alike as it is."

Lex bit back a denial, and suppressed a shudder. "I'm sorry I didn't do my time like a good little convict, Dad," he replied, smoothly veering the conversation back to its original subject. "But don't worry; I'm sure you'll come up with something even better the next time around. I didn't finish my sentence, after all."

"Oh, but you did," Lionel replied. "Those Scouts can't praise you enough. The curator said she'd be happy to tell the judge that you satisfactorily completed your sentence. Especially," he added, one edge of his mouth curving upward, "since I've agreed to donate enough money to repair and restore the exhibits that were destroyed in the, shall we say, 'unexplained' electrical disaster. For the record, if you don't recall, they were among the most valuable in the museum's collection."

Lex raised his eyebrows, mentally calculating the considerable sum his father must have been forced to lay out, and secretly enjoying the fact that Lionel's own scheme had been the cause of it.

Lionel laughed, clearly following his train of thought. "Hoist on my own petard, eh? True enough. _Touche_, Lex."

He got to his feet and adjusted the lapels of his suit jacket. "By the way, I hear that one of the Scouts helped you, that night at the museum."

The words jogged loose another stream of images in Lex's mind. Green fire rained on him, and darkness fell. He felt the gentle, warm pressure of a small hand on his, and a friendly voice coaxed him forward, leading him through the gloom, to a light in the distance.

"I'd like to thank the boy properly," Lionel continued. "Do you remember anything about him?"

Lex looked up at his father thoughtfully. He knew all about darkness, he reflected. He'd been trapped in it since he'd been born. And he'd always dreamed of escaping.

Lionel's voice became more insistent. "Do you?"

Lex sighed, and smiled. Yes, he remembered. "He found the way out."

Lex hoped he'd be able to do the same.

**FIN**

**A/N: **_I hope you enjoyed this! **cHoCoLaTe-cHiHuAhUa**, I don't have any plans for an epilogue as yet, but that might change if the right idea comes along. Stay tuned:)_


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